It is not Al-Qaida but rather Islamist anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia, Iran and its allies that poses a threat to the Jewish people, a new position paper from The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute says. The paper, by Prof. Emmanuel Sivan, calls on the Jewish people worldwide to focus on highlighting this semi-official Saudi policy, and on strengthening ties with moderate Muslim countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Pakistan.
Sivan, a senior researcher at the institute and a Middle East historian, is scheduled to present his paper this Thursday at the President's Conference: Facing Tomorrow, in Jerusalem.
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In the paper, titled "The Islamist Challenge," Sivan argues that despite Al-Qaida's rhetoric aimed against the Jewish people, "the Jews are a low-priority target on their list of enemies." By contrast, "Iran (and its extension, Hezbollah) as well as Hamas are major producers and disseminators of Islamist anti-Semitism in the Shi'ite and Sunni worlds."
Sivan suggests launching a campaign against Iran and its allies, and underscoring the fact that this state and its allies are working to destroy Israel. However, he emphasizes that this campaign must be based on a broad coalition of forces, not spearheaded by the Jewish people.
The second major aim of this campaign should be to "expose the most negative role played by Saudi semi-official princely foundations as a most important disseminator of anti-Semitic propaganda in Sunni countries as well as in Muslim diasporas."
The reason anti-Semitic propaganda is being disseminated stems from the fact that the Saudi regime is based on Wahhabi ideology, which has anti-Jewish (as well as anti-Christian and anti-Shi'ite) elements. According to Sivan, the princes are also motivated by "a hypocritical engagement with zealotry to cover up their decadent lifestyle."
Another motive behind this activity is to placate Saudi clerics who criticize the regime for its ties to the U.S.
Sivan provides a composite portrait of Jews as perceived today in the Muslim world and Muslim diaspora in Europe. Essentially, Jews are seen as members of a partially corrupted monotheist religion, not as a people, and as such, their status "should have been that of a 'protected community' (Ahl al-Dhimma) under Islam."
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